Towel-holder.



G. E. COUPLAND.

TOWEL HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20, I914.

Patfinted Apr. 25, 1916.

I a'nvawlio r, EK'WM EW hm I enonen n. conrnann, or rannnnrcn, OKLAHOMA.

rowan-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. ea, rare.

Application filed October 20, 191%. Serial No. 869,633.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. CoUrLANn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Frederick, in the county of Tillman and State of Oklahoma,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Towel- Holders, ofwhich the following-is a specification.

This invention relates to towel holders and has as its primary object toprovide a device of this character disposed to detachably support atowel and so constructed that downward pull upon the towel, which, undernormal circumstances, would have a tendency to efiect its disengagementwith the holder will, on the contrary, act to cause the holder to moresecurely engage the towel.

The invention has as a further object to provide a device of thischaracter wherein a towel may be readily attached to or detachedtherefrom, and which will be so constructed as to support the towelwithout injury thereto at its point of engagement with the towel. Andthe invention has as a still further object to provide a device of thischaracter which will be simple in construction and which will be adaptedfor use as an advertising novelty.

With these and other objects'inview, my

invention will be more fully described illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and then specifically pointed out in the claims which areattached-to and form a part of this application.

In the accompanying drawings :--Figure l-is a detail perspective view ofmy improved towel holder showing the towel in engagement the with, thetowel being conventionally illustrated. Fig. 2 is avertical sectionalview illustrating the arrangement of the movable element employed forengaging the towel. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view showing .amodified form. of bracket armfor supporting the movable elementdisclosed in Fig. 2, the said element being shown'detached, Fig. A is aplan view of the blank from which the arm shown in Fig. 3 is formed,andFig. 5 is a transverse sectional view illustrating the manner in whichthe arm disclosed in Fig. 3 of the drawings is attached to the base ofthe holder shown in Fig. 1. Corresponding and like parts are referred toin the following description and indicated in all the views of thedrawing by the same reference characters.

It the purpose of the present invention to provide a towel holder whichmay be readily attached in any suitable position to support a towel at aconvenient location and to this end, I employ a base illustrated at 10in the drawing which may be formed of any suitable material and whichmay be of any desired size. As shown, the base 10 may be caused todisplay indicia of any desired character such as advertising subject-matter.

Arranged upon the base 10, is a bracket indicated as. a Whole at 11, thesaid bracket including a head 12 having a flat inner face disposed toabut the adjacent face of the base and being preferably detachably secured to the base by a suitable screw or other similar fastening device12. Projecting from the head 12 and extending longitudinally of'the base10 laterally upon one side thereof is an arm 13 which is disposedsubstantially parallel with the base and which terminates, at its freeextremity, preferably in substantial alinement with the lower edge ofthebase as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Upon one side thereof andcontiguous to the head 12, the arm 13 is cut away or grooved to providea longitudinally extending channel or runway 14 having side walls 15,the outer free edges of which terminate in spaced relation'to the adacent face of the base, this also being best shown in 'Fig. 2 of. thedrawing. At its upper extremity,the channel 14 is closed by the head 12and at its lower extremity, adjacent the free end of the arm 1?,the-bottom wall 16 of the -said channel which is preferably straightthroughout the major portion of its length to extend in substantialparallel re-. lation to the adjacent flat face of'the base .10, iscurved laterally at the adjacent entremity thereof to provide a terminalinclined wall or shoulder 17 converging toward the adjacent face of thebase.

Disposed within the channel 14: and arranged for free movement thereinis a weighted element 18 preferably in the form of asphere, the saidelement being retained within the channel 14 by'the side walls 15thereof and being limited in its movement longitudinally within saidchannel by the head 12 and by the shoulder 17.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and '2 of the cent face of thebase. To connectthe towel with the holder, a portion thereof is passed beneath the arm13 and between the weighted element 18 and the base, as illustrated inFig. 2 of the drawings, the weighted element 18 being first movedupwardly with in the channel 14 to disengage the shoulder 17 and permitthe entrance of the towel. After the towel is thus connected with theholder, the weighted element 18 will, by gravity, return to its normalposition to be engaged by the shoulder 17, which, owing to itsinclination, will direct the weighted element 18 inwardly toward thebase to engage the towel to thus firmly maintain it in position. In thisconnection, it is to be observed that downward pull upon the towel,which, under normal circumstances, wbuld tend to disengage the towelfrom the holder, will on the contrary, in the construction which Iprovide, cause the weighted element 18 to move upon the shoulder 17 tobe consequently forced into more secure engagement with the towel,.suchdownward pull upon the towel causing it, through its .element to effectthis result, or in the event this is not convenient, the weightedelement 18 may be manually moved: upwardly within' the channel 14 out ofengagement with the shoulder 17 to disengage thetowel when the towel maybe readily displaced. It will therefore be seen that I provide a verysimple and efficient construction of towel holder wherein the towel maybe readily attachedto or detached from the holder and wherein the weightof the towel itself as, well as any downward pull upon the 7 19, it willbe observed upon reference to Fig.

4 of the drawings, that said blank includes a body portion 20 adjacentone extremity ofwhich are provided oppositely disposed and laterallyprojecting flanges 21, the said body portion at the adjacent extremitythereof also having a longitudinally extending flange- 22 mediallyformed thereon. At

its extremity opposite the flange 22, the body portion adjacent the sideedges thereof is provided with longitudinally extending notches 23 todefine terminal oppositely disposed ears 2% having confronting inclinededges 25 the said edges being curved outwardly away from each othertoward the adjacent extremity of the body portion, it being observedthat the said ears terminate short of the adjacent end of the bodyportion.

To construct the bracket shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings from the blankthus formed, the body portion thereof is folded upon the parallel linesA A to define a back indicated at 26 in Fig. 3 of the drawings havingangularly disposed sides 27, it being observed that the lines of fold AA extend from the inner extremity of the flange 22 at the sides thereofto the inner extremity of the notches 23. The flanges 21 are then foldedlongitudinally, medially thereof upon the lines B B to define a head 28having terminal laterally projecting flanges 29. The flange 22 is thenfolded transversely in substantial alinement with the adjacent end edgesof the flanges 21 to close the head 28 at its upper extremity, while theopposite terminal of the body portion is bent longi tudinally to conformto the curvature of the inclined edges of the ears 2-1 and provide aterminal inclined wall or shoulder 30.

It will be observed that thebracket thus formed is provided'with a head28 a counterpart substantially of the head 12 of the bracket shown inFigs. 1 and 2 and the said head is disposed to be secured to the base 10in any suitable manner by the flanges 29 as illustrated in Fig. 5 of thedrawings. Extending from tlie head 28 is an arm 31 substantially thecounterpart of the arm 13 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, thesaid arm defining interiorly thereof by the sides 27, a channelextending longitudinally of the bracket and disposed to receive theweighted element 18. The bottom wall of the channel in form shown inFigs. 3. 4 and 5 is also substantially straight through out the majorportion of itslength and terminates at its lower extremity in theinclined shoulder 30 similar to the shoulder 17 shown in Figs. 1 and 2,said shoulder being dlsposed to engage the weighted element 1 8 fordlrecting the said element into frictional contact with. the towel.Since the flanges 21 of the blank 19 are folded medially longitudinallythereof to provide the flanges 29 of the finished bracket. the saidflanges 29 will support the arm 31 in spaced relation to the adjacentfaceof the base 10 and substantially parallel thereto in order thata'towel may be readily inserted beneath the arm to engage the weightedelement 18.

Particular attention'isnow directed to the fact that owing to thepresence of the notches 25 in the form of bracket shown in 1,1eo,eee eFigs. 3, at and 5, the adjacent terminal of the body portion thereofwill in effect, provide a terminal resilient tongue having an innerinclined face converging toward the base 10 and disposed for engagementwith the weighted element 18, the said tongue being mounted for movementbetween the sides 27 of the bracket toward or away from the base.Consequently, when a towel is engaged with the weighted element 18 inthis form of the invention in the manner similar to that illustrated inFig. 2 of the draw ings, and the towel is pulled downwardly tocause theweighted element to engage the inclined face of the tongue, the tonguewill be sprung outwardly away from the base so that when such pull uponthe towel is relieved, the weighted element 18 will wedge between thesaid tongue and the base owing to the resilient action of the tongue,and will be resiliently held thereby in firm engagement with the towel.The possibility of the towel becoming disengaged from the holderwillthus be further minimized by this construction, in that the weightedelement 18 will be resiliently held stationary or wedged into engagementwith the towel.

From the above description, it will further be seen that the form of theinvention shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 provides a very desirableconstruction where it is desired to possibly reduce the cost ofmanufacture and further provides a very desirable constructionespecially adapted to be employed where the towel holder is to be usedas .an advertising novelty. It will further be seen that thislast-mentioned form of bracket will possess all of the advantageousfeatures found in the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2 whilean additional advantageous feature of construction is found in theprovision of the resilient tongue (lisposed to engage the weightedelement arranged within tl ebracket.

Having thus (1 scribed my invention, what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. A device of the character described including abracket formed from a single sheet of material and including a he'adhaving laterally projecting flanges formed thereon, an arm extendinglaterally from said head and provided with lateral flanges defining achannel. the said bracket having a tongue formed thereon adapted to havefree movement between ,said last mentioned flanges, and a weightedelement adapted for movement in said channel, the bracket being adaptedfor attachment to a base by said first mentioned flanges with the saidweighted element normally gravitating to engage between the tongue andsaid base with the said extremity of the connecting wall normallyadapted to urge the weighted element toward the base.

2. A device of the character described including a bracket provided witha channel having side walls, and a connecting wall integral with theside walls for the major portion of its length, one extremity of saidconnecting wall being free and being mounted for movement between theside Walls, and a weighted element adapted for movement in said channel,the bracket being adapted for attachment to a base with the weightedelement normally gravitating to engage between the free extremity ofsaid connecting wall and the base.

3. A device of the character described including a bracket provided witha channel, a yieldable tongue free at one end and providing one end wallof said channel, and a weighted element adapted for movement in saidchannel, the bracket being adapted for attachment to a base with theweighted 'element normally gravitating to engage between the freeextremity of said tongue and the base with the tongue normally adaptedto urge the weighted element toward the base.

4. In a device of the class described, a base, a bracket including ahead and a depending arm, said head attached to the base and said armspaced from the base and having a longitudinally directed channel in itsinner face, the channel extending for the major portion of its length inparallel relation to the base and to the arm and curving toward the baseat its lower end, and a weighted element movable in said runway andnormally bearing against the base and limited in its downward movementby the inwardly directed terminal of the runway.

In testimony whereof ll affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

.T. B. BEARD, .l'r., J. A. Marnie.

